Last week when I shared the details of the ice cream party, I mentioned that I currently have a thing for fruity simple syrups. Simple syrup is a sweet, concentrated liquid made by boiling water and sugar together and it’s used in drinks and can be poured over cakes and other desserts. With the addition of fruit, the syrup takes on the flavor and color of the fruit.
And aren’t the colors gorgeous?! After making rhubarb and blueberry syrup for Rhubarb Blueberry Lemonade and then making raspberry for the party, I felt inspired to try more!
Aside from the lemons and limes, I used frozen fruit (including rhubarb I froze from my mom’s garden). First, it’s less expensive and secondly, it’s easier. There was no prep work for the berries, peaches or rhubarb and since I made seven syrups, less work was ideal.
I used the same basic ratios for all the fruit simple syrups I made (save for the lime, more on that below) but know that there are a plethora of variations out there. I like the syrup to be sweet but I want to taste the fruit instead of hiding a little bit of fruit juice in a lot of sugar. Each fruit has a differing concentration of taste meaning that what might be an adequate amount with one syrup is not the same for another. This isn’t a big deal because ratios can be adjusted by taste when the drinks are being mixed. I found that peach has a very light taste, blueberries and raspberries are bold with strawberries and rhubarb in the middle.
For our drinks, I mixed the syrups with club soda which made drinks akin to fruity soda. These syrups can also be mixed with lemonade, iced tea, hot tea and assorted liquors (check Pinterest!). Bug and Sweet J thought the drinks were amazing. They were enthralled with all the colors and had to try most of them, some of them many times over.
I made double batches of all of the syrups and after they cooled, I bagged them and popped them in the freezer. The drinks are wonderful but I have more plans for my pretties.
Ingredients
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup water
- 1 1/2 cups fruit, frozen or fresh, or squeezed fruit juice. Fruit should be peeled and washed and cut into smaller pieces when applicable.
Instructions
- Bring the sugar, water and fruit to a boil.
- Turn down the heat and allow the mix to simmer for 20-25 minutes or until the fruit very soft and coming apart.
- Remove from heat and pour the mixture through a fine mesh strainer.
- Allow to fully cool.
- Store in the refrigerator.
Notes
Use syrups with club soda, lemonade, iced tea, hot tea or water. Pour over cake or ice cream.
Possible fruits: strawberries, raspberries, cherries, blueberries, blackberries, peaches, oranges, limes, lemons, rhubarb, grapefruit
*The limes were tricky. Knowing their taste can come across as bitter instead of amazingly lime, I read other recipes before I started. What I saw was that the lime juice amount was drastically smaller than the ratios I have above. Like 1/2 cup or less per the 1:1 sugar to water.
I’ve been meaning to experiment with fruit syrups for ages, so glad I stopped by! They all look delicious and your photos are beautiful.
Thank you!
What do you mean by bagging your juices before freezing🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹
I’ve been looking for something that tells me how much simple fruit syrup to add per quart of tea. No luck. Any thoughts on this? I’m very excited to find this recipe! My sweet husband loves peach tea. I’ve been looking for an affordable way to make my own. This is the only truly simple and affordable recipe I’ve found. Thanks very much!!
These look soo good! Love all the colours too. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you!
Could you substitute honey for granulated sugar?
I’m not sure, Desiree. I did google making simple syrups with honey and got a lot of results. You should try that! Looks like some yummy possibilities. :)
I make cordials using a steamer which is similar to your syrups, that way I don’t really have to process the fruit much, the odd leaf and stalk in there does not hurt it and I use approximately 1lb of fruit to 6oz sugar. The other beauty of the process is that the juice is collected straight into sterile jars and sealed. Lastly I put the lot through a vegetable sieve and make jam with the remaining pulp.
Here are a couple of recipes (just scroll down)
http://thejourneytosomewhere.blogspot.com/2012/07/happy-discoveries_23.html
http://thejourneytosomewhere.blogspot.com/2012/08/frolicking-in-hay.html
Cool Joanna! Thank you for sharing. Sounds like a profitable process. And yummy too. :)
When I saw this on Pinterest and all the bold colors I thought for sure that you had used something like Koolaid. What a pleasant surprise to see that you used fruit! We make plain simple syrup all the time for lemonade, sweet tea and iced coffee. I can’t wait to try these! Thank you!
I love that the colors turned out so lovely too! I love the real thing. Hope you enjoy them!
These are absolutely beautiful! Can’t wait to try them ;)
Enjoy!
What about for people who are diabetic and need to reduce sugar intake? I’m not diabetic but I’m trying to cut way back on my sugar and 1 cup of sugar is far too much sugar. What about other alternatives like agave?
Looks like there are agave simple syrup options. I googled it and the first result is a recipe on Food.com. Have fun!
I use Splenda. It’s delish!
These look delicious! And those bottles are super cute! Where did you get them? Thanks!
Thanks Julie! They are cleaned up Starbucks frappuccino bottles, the ones you can buy in the store. I removed the labels, clean them out and now I have milk-bottle-like bottles of my own!
Excellent idea. I guess I’ll be buying Starbucks.
Thanks for sharing your creativity!
very nice idea! thank you.
a few comments from my mother:
it is better to boil fruit just in water first (without sugar), because fruit hardens in sugary water and it takes for it longer to “fall apart”. it is better to add sugar after getting the fruit through the mesh (besides no sugar gets thrown away this way and you can correct the level of sugar better)
Thanks Anna!
Hi! Question: what is the ratio that you recommend for syrup to club soda? I’m sure it’s preference, but where should I start? Thanks!
It really is by preference. Maybe start with filling your glass 1/4 with the syrup and then fill with club soda. Try that and then adjust from there. Again, some of them are more potent than others. You can always add more of whatever you need.
Sounds yummy! I drink a lot of water and sometimes need more flavor. I’ll have to try this.
Hi! This is a lovely recipe, can’t wait to try it! How long do you think it would keep in the refrigerator for? Thanks!
I’m not sure. We had this large batch in our fridge for at least a month and they were still fine but I can’t say for sure.
Hello! I’m coming a bit late to this conversation (like 3 years). Have you ever heard of adding a teaspoon or so of vodka to the finished simple syrup? Supposedly it extends the ‘fridge life’ by another few weeks. Of course, not for kids! Personally, I plan to add LOTS of vodka! :)
Hi
I run a bakery coffee shop that’s got a bit of a New York urban feel . We are looking for supplier for syrups to make smoothies and coolers . At the moment we use frozen fruit and serve it in milk bottles. They look really good but we would like to offer more flavors . When are you opening a factory so we can buy from you ?
Thanks
Rui
If I’m making 1 gal of ice tea, how much simple syrup would I use
I’ve always been addicted to sonics peach tea so when I found this I was so excited! I just made my first batch today and it’s WAY better than sonics! I will never be able to go back! Thank you for sharing!!
I love the idea of freezing these beauties into some ice cube trays and then popping them into some freezer baggies. This makes them easier to thaw in smaller servings. I will have to play around with how many cubes per glass or pitcher to suit my family’s taste though. Thanks for the colorful pictures too!!
How much would I need to make for 10 litres (2.6 gallons) of this? I am having a lot of trouble trying to figure it out, but I would love to do these for a party I am having.
Do you know if you can seal them so that they will keep? I want to make holiday gifts with them. I guess, what is their un-refrigerated shelf life? Do they keep?
Thanks!
You ever try Watermelon as a syrup? I’ve just pureed fresh watermelon and added to lemonade. It seems sweet enough as is. Thanks.
What is the shelf life for the syrups?
With that amount of sugar I would say it would last avery long time even not refrigerated
why do the fruits need to be peeled? I’ve seen simple syrups made with strawberries that are not peeled and etc…
Thank you.
What would the recipe be when combining the syrups into one for making a sangria syrup using raspberries, peaches, oranges?
Kono
How long will these keep in the fridge?
do you have to strain the fruit syrup? Or can you just leave the fruity bits in there? These sound amazing!! Thank you!!
Would it be ok after cooking/simmering the mixture to run it through a blender to keep the fruit in the syrup?
Thank you
My only question is is how do you bring fruit to a boil? I really have no clue what that means.
There seems to be no response to questiob of how to can the syrups for gift giving. I am interested in making gifts from the syrup I make from sugar cane juice.
How long do you boil? Looks great trying raspberry today